James Rasmussen
Poppy is the only one who can call James, "Jamie." Poppy describes James looking like James Dean. James is cousins with the Redferns. In The Books James has loved Poppy North for years, but has been keeping it a secret. When James was 4 years old, he had a human nanny named Miss Emma. His parents thought he was getting too attached to her, so they took James on vacation for three days. They didn't feed him that whole time. when they came back, his parents sent Miss Emma to put him to bed. He was starving so much that he fed on her and couldn't stop. He tried to give her his blood, but his parents stopped him. Miss Emma became a ghoul and his parents buried her at Inverness. In Secret Vampire, James finds out that Poppy is dying of cancer. She isn't aware of James being a vampire. He tries desperately to find a way for Poppy to live. He asked his dad for help and a witch with no success. James tells Poppy about him being a vampire, and asks if she wants him to change her so she can live. She says yes. They exchange blood as they are finishing, Phil walks in. Phil and James have a talk about Poppy. Phil threatens James, saying he wants him to stay away from Poppy. To get Phil to leave him alone, James tells him he is just pretending to like Poppy. Poppy and James exchange blood again, and are interrupted by Phil again. Phil and James fight, and Phil tells Poppy that James doesn't care about her. Poppy makes James leave, saying she would rather die than spend her life with him. James later catches Phil and tells him everything. Phil later agrees to help Poppy. James and Poppy finish the change that night. Poppy goes throught with the change while James watches over her. James finds out that he and Poppy are soulmates. James remembers that his cousin is going to visit, so he leaves Poppy to go find his mother so she can tell his cousin not to visit. After he leaves, Ash Redfern shows up and talks Poppy into leaving, saying that Jame scould get into trouble because of her. James, with Phil, leaves to find her. He finally finds them as Ash is about to expose Poppy as an illegal vampire. They walk away, but before they do James tells Ash,"You know, you've never cared about anyone. but some day you will, and it's going to hurt. It's going to hurt-a lot." James and Poppy drive away into the night. In Soulmate, James appears again for a short period of time. Personality James is hard to get to know, but once he get comfortable with you, he'll be more open. He doesn't enjoy to be the center of attention. James is honest, loyal, and sweet. He doesn't sugar-coat things. He thinks it's better if the person knows to whole truth to something. He's very intelligent. He doesn't like to share his problems with anyone. Quotes "You know, you've never cared about anyone. But some day you will, and it's going to hurt. It's going to hurt-a lot."-Secret Vampire, Page 232 "I want to save you. I want to save you, Poppy." Secret Vampire, Page 53 "You'll be living in a new world, the Night World. And it's a lonely world, full of secrets. But you'll be walking around in it, instead of lying in the ground." Secret Vampire, Page 65 "Poppy, it's bad manners to search somebody's mind when you're not invited." Secret Vampire, Page 68 "Are you nuts? Look, Phil, I was born in San Francisco. I'm not some bug-eyed monster from Alpha Centauri. I eat Wheaties for breakfast." Secret Vampire, Page 108 "I could never tell you how I felt about you. I couldn't even admit it to myself. Because it puts you in terrible danger. You can't imagine what kind of danger." Secret Vampire, Page 123 "You're not part of this anymore. It's up to Poppy and me. All you need to do is go back and live your normal life and keep your mouth shut." Secret Vampire, Page 179 "And we can walk into people's homes without being invited, and roll in garlic if we don't mind losing friends." Secret Vampire, Page 187 "You don't love somebody because of their looks or their clothes or their car. You love them because they sing a song nobody but you can understand." Secret Vampire, Page 184 "You're sure you're all right? ...Good. Then hang on a moment while I kill this guy then we'll go." Secret Vampire, Page 230 "I didn't pick my parents. Believe me, I didn't." Soulmate, Page 613 "Against us. You just said 'us.' You admit you're a part of us." Soulmate, Page 617; to Ash